How important are revenues as a measure of success for films? This is the question Anupama Chopra asked film directors Rajkumar Hirani, Rohit Shetty, Anurag Basu and Kabir Khan and to actress Vidya Balan.

In Bollywood, the bar is set at 100 crore rupees (1 billion rupees, or $18.2 million). Films that top that figure at the box office are considered as belonging to the so-called “100 Crore Club.”

Below is an edited excerpt of their conversation for “The Front Row.”

Anupama Chopra: When I first started reporting around 18 or 19 years ago, conversations about box office and opening day figures were restricted to the trade in Naaz building, Mumbai’s historical film distribution center. Those men would discuss initial, deficit and overflow. Today, box office figures are the stuff of kitty party chatter and are covered extensively by mainstream media. Why and when did this happen?

Rajkumar Hirani: Yes, it is actually unfortunate. I think we are living in an age where everything is equated with money. Success has been equated with money. It is not only films. You look at paintings and you say: Okay, how much was this painting sold for? Look at cricket and you will find: How much was this player sold for? I think it’s a fool’s paradise to live in this world and equate an art form with money.

Anupama: How does this chatter impact your creativity? Rohit, you are the king of the 100 crore club, with the movies that have crossed the figure. When you are writing a film, somewhere at the back of your head, is there a small voice saying: “No Rohit this scene is too serious. Remember the film has to make 100 crore.”

Rohit Shetty: For me, yes. I will tell you honestly: nobody comes to me and says: “good film.” They say: 100 crore kab hoga dekhna hai!’ (Let’s see when the collections touch 100 crore). That is why I didn’t enjoy the success of “Bol Bachchan” and by the time it was 100 crore I had moved on to doing something else. I don’t think “ki isko bhi 100 crore karna hi padega” (that this film also has to do 100 crore rupees ) but I know that I have to deal with the pressure.

Anupama: Raju, do you have to live with the figure of 200 crores?

Rajkumar: I think it is a trap and, honestly speaking, of course there is pressure. I don’t think anybody can write a 100 crore film. I think all of us want to write from the heart in the film that we believe in and then hope that more and more people like it.

Anupama: Kabir, your film “Ek Tha Tiger” almost broke the record of “3 Idiots.” And it did create the record for the biggest opening day with 33 crore rupees (330 million rupees). As a filmmaker, is it disappointing when the box office becomes the biggest point of discussion?

Kabir Khan: It’s a bizarre feeling because it is also out of the realm of my understanding. I am not a trade person. I learnt it slowly since I was making “Ek Tha Tiger” and the hype started catching up with me. But yes, at times it feels like you’re launching an IPO of a company, not a film, because everything was figures. And it takes away from the process. It is not that making money is bad. We all are very happy that our films are earning a lot of money. But I think over-hype is being created about that magical figure.

Anupama: Is there a danger here of reducing movies to money? Today, 100 crore is a stamp of quality. My husband (Vinod Chopra) had said that rubbish films make 100 crore. Do you agree?

Rohit: See, nobody is saying that. The audience is not saying that 100 crore rupee “ki film hai toh bahut achi film hogi” (if it’s a 100 crore rupee film it must be very good). It is just the media and the industry talking about it. A film is either good or bad.

Rajkumar: I personally think that five years later after the film is released, you come to know if that film is good or not. Because people still remember a “Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro” today and to me that is a 100 crore film.

Anupama: Anurag, yours was the most unusual film in this club. Nobody expected that a film like “Barfi!,” which featured an autistic girl and a deaf-mute boy falling in love, would make 100 crores. How does that impact you?

Anurag Basu: I think Barfi’s genre is a feel-good genre and that’s the kind of film I wanted to make. And that is what I will try to do in my next film. If it touches 100 hearts maybe it will be in 100 crore club but that will not be my main criteria when I am writing a story.

Anupama: Is there pressure on you Vidya, because you are the only heroine who has single –handedly, without the sort of crutch of a hero, made films that came close to that figure? Do you think about it? Is there something at the back of your mind?

Vidya Balan: No, I don’t really get bothered by it because I didn’t start out saying that this is a woman centric film and I am here to propagate a cause of women-centric cinema. I was doing the films I believed in, they ended up doing well and that has worked in my favor. Therefore, it has opened up a lot of avenues. A lot of people are looking at different films with women as central characters but there was no agenda there so on me there is no pressure.

Watch “The Front Row with Anupama Chopra” tonight at 8:30 p.m. on Star World for the full conversation with Rajkumar Hirani, Rohit Shetty, Kabir Khan, Anurag Basu and Vidya Balan. For more details, visit the show’s website or follow it on Twitter @thefrontrow2012 and on Facebook. You can also follow Anupama Chopra on Twitter @anupamachopra.

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